Species Overview
Select a species at left to view plant selections, or read on below for an overview of popular bamboo species.
Arundinaria
This one is easy to remember because it starts with the Letter A. And A is the first letter in the name of Amerigo Vespucci, as well as the first letter in our Alphabet. Amerigo got here after Christopher Columbus. He was published first though in M. Waldseemuller’s Cosmographiae Introductio in 1507, and hence got his name modernised and stamped on a big piece of land. If Vespucci had steered North and then decided to get off his ship on the present day Texas Coast, and if he followed one of the numerous rivers inland, he might have been killed by Karankawa Indians (not Native Americans yet). Unless of course he saw them coming, and then hid among the tall Reeds lining the sides of the River. If he had done that , then he would have discovered not only a couple of Continents, an Isthmus, and some stinky people, but he would have discovered a great hiding place, and the only Native North American (not in 1501) bamboo, Arundinaria gigantea.
Bambusa
A genus of tropical and sub-tropical clumping bamboo. Most Species grow to be real big which tends to excite people. My friend, Darwin especially likes big bamboos. I think he wants to sit under one, cross his legs and explore nirvana. This may seem a little foreign to Christians waiting for heaven in the afterlife, but we've decided that we want to enjoy it as much as we can while we are here, and bamboo is not a bad way to do that.
Dendrocalamus
It is kind of silly for a grower in Central Texas to be growing Dendrocalamus. Unless one is just interested in witnessing an annual sad end to a fabulously beautiful genus of giant grass. It could be compared to a Cock fight except that we would always know the outcome. Basically, a big handsome cock would be killed by a silent and invisible opponent. For those of you in the proper climate, please send me pictures.
Otatea
Otay! This is probably the most widespread of the Native Mexican Bamboo. And much like the people of Mexico, it is spreading into this country at an alarming rate. I'm not alarmed, just excited really, because of the bamboo and because of the people. It has always been the newest immigrants to this country that have supported the larger society, both through its labor and ultimately through the gifts that it brings. This bamboo is like that, a new addition, unfamiliar to us and therefore largely ignored, until we begin to open up to it’s foreign secrets, and invite it in for a little gallop in the garden.
Phyllostachys
These are the Running Bamboos that many Americans are familiar with. Familiar in the way one is with Poison Ivy. "It's gonna crack my foundation, It's impossible to get rid of." "It grew through my swimming pool and..." It is just the size that gets people. Nobody really complains that their lawn grass spreads. It doesn't grow 35' tall though. I haven’t really heard of anyone complaining about Narcissus reproducing. "Oh look at that, the Daffodils have naturalized. We’re going to have to kill those damned things." I am assuming that most of you know something about bamboo, and Phyllostachys in particular. If not, just look at any of the Web sites, or buy a book, or just plant it and see what happens. I am making descriptions that give information other than what one gets in every other Species List. Much of that information is biased toward the particular region from whence the description originates, just like this one is.
In England, Black Bamboo is practically considered a clumping variety because of its growth habit there. The American Bamboo Societies Species List says Golden Bamboo grows to a maximum size of 27' tall with 1 3/4" (maybe 2.5") diameter culms. Obviously, no one from the Society has visited Jasper, Texas where it is over 40' tall and 3" diameter. I am not faulting anyone in particular, or the Society in General, just pointing out that there is much to learn; and that there may be places where Golden Bamboo will only grow to be 10' tall. In fact, I know where that place is, and I’m not telling. What I will tell though, is that if you have ever seen a grove of bamboo, with mature culms occasionally protruding into the sky, and sunlight beaming through to the leaf littered floor, well, that might just have been a Phyllostachys grove. And that just might have been good.
Psuedosasa
A close or deceptive resemblance to Sasa? A pseudo Sasa? I like the fact that this name has a P in it but no one can hear it. P is not often silent, nor for that matter is poop, but when a Chinese Bear shats in a bamboo forest, can we still call it the woods? Oh, and by the way-these bamboos rock!
Semiarundinaria
Words with eight syllables are good, especially when followed by four syllable words beginning with fast. Twelve syllables spoken quickly to a layman or laywoman, can sometimes confuse, sometimes amuse. Standing in a grove of Temple Bamboo can make life eternal.
Sinobambusa
Like a stack of High School cheerleaders with their Pom-Poms on their hips, celebrating the experience of being alive.